The government must take an inventory of how many key agricultural species and technologies are still indigenous to Taiwan and hold on to them to safeguard the superiority of the Taiwan brand on the international market, academics said recently.
Along with the rapid growth in cross-strait exchanges and China’s establishment of the so-called “Taiwanese innovative farming parks,” the techniques that have led to the development and production of Taiwanese agricultural wonders, such as orchids, golden diamond pineapples, golden mangoes and Oolong tea, have been exported to China, seriously undermining Taiwan’s share of the international market.
Chen Lee Agricultural Reform research team executive director Tu Yu (杜宇) said Taiwan has limited agricultural land compared with China and cannot count on mass production to sustain economies of scale.
That is why Taiwan should take advantage of its self-developed techniques and products to form the core of its agricultural exports, Tu said, adding that about 70 to 80 percent of the products, which are not limited to flowers and fruit, but also include fish farming, found in China’s “innovative farming parks” were from Taiwan.
The parks, which have been officially approved by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and Ministry of Agriculture, provide land, tax incentives and assistance with software and hardware development, as well as discounts on joint ventures. Those incentives are seen as a means to encourage the transfer of Taiwan’s techniques and experienced workers to China.
Tu said the government should consider imposing criminal sentences on people caught smuggling techniques and seeds or shoots to China.
There were only five such parks in China when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) assumed office in May 2008, but that number increased to 20 in 2009 and to 25 at the end of last year.
One of these parks, Zhangping Yongfu, markets itself as the “Chinese Alishan” (阿里山) and has become the largest settlement of Taiwanese-style Oolong tea in China.
Encouraged by the success of these parks, the Fujian Province Agricultural Department said on Monday last week that it was pushing for the creation of three national-level innovative parks in China.
In a report released in February, Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture said inspections of the parks in November last year showed that they were systematically importing top-grade products from Taiwan, as well as personnel and techniques to enhance and upgrade China’s traditional agriculture.
The report said that everything from management and shoots were imported from Taiwan at the Zhangpu Park in Fujian and that most of the agricultural products planted there were top-of-the line fruit, including golden pineapples, black pearl modifications of bell fruit, lychee, the modified Japanese persimmon kaki, dragon fruit with red fruit meat and pineapple-flavored custard apples, as well as aiwen, yuwen and golden mangoes.
The current focus at the Zhangpu Park was on dragon fruit, the report said.
Chinese fruit growers are not well educated on product rights protection, the report said, adding that some could mass produce varieties of Taiwanese fruit from only a branch or shoot off the original tree.
Oolong tea species and techniques for making the tea have been fully exported to the parks, and some tea leaves are even sold back to Taiwan through Vietnam or in crates that may have found their way back into Taiwan via the “small three links,” the report said.
Kuo Hua-jen (郭華仁), of National Taiwan University’s department of agriculture, accused the government of being lax in its management of the issue. One reason could be that former Council of Agriculture minister Paul Sun (孫明賢), who also doubles as honorary chairman of the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, is the primary adviser to the parks.
Kuo said this lax attitude has made it easy for people to smuggle shoots and seeds, as well as techniques and technology, out of the country.
Agriculture and Food Agency Secretary-General Hsu Han-ching (許漢卿) said there are only seven types of seeds and shoots that needed documentation for export: bananas, pomegranates, tea, soy beans, sugarcane, fungi and mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. All other types can pass through customs unhindered.
As to whether the policy concerning cross-strait agricultural technique exchange was too lax, the Council of Agriculture only said it would prohibit core species and technologies researched and developed by the state-run Agricultural Research and Extension Stations from being exported to China.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese